Three Up:1. OF Marlon Byrd: Byrd’s three-run homer off Johnny Cueto was the only offensive spark for the Mets, who continue to struggle consistently at the plate.

2. OF Rick Ankiel: In the lineup due to his success against Cueto, Ankiel reached base in each of his first two at-bats. That might be enough for the Mets to try him out in the two hole again.

3. RHP Greg Burke: This is more a makeup call for last weekend in Chicago, where Burke continued to establish himself as a consistent performer. He has not allowed a run since returning from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Three Down:1. 1B Ike Davis: Another 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, plus an obstruction call at first base. Even at the nadir of his slump last season, Davis never struggled on defense to the extent he is now.

2. 2B Daniel Murphy: All hot streaks must come to an end; Murphy’s came crashing down with an 0-for-4 performance, including a key strikeout in the seventh inning with the tying run in scoring position.

3. SS Ruben Tejada: Tejada looks absolutely lost offensively, and he’s not enough of a difference-maker on defense to make up for it. At what point do the Mets consider giving Justin Turner some starts at short?

Three Up:1. 2B Daniel Murphy: The Mets officially have a nominee for Streakiest Hitter in Baseball. Since snapping last week’s 0-for-17 skid at the plate, Murphy has gone 6-for-9 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored.

2. OF Marlon Byrd: Something clicked for Byrd after he jammed his shoulder into the right-field wall attempting to catch a foul ball in the fifth. An inning later, he hit a two-run home run, one of Byrd’s two extra-base hits on the night.

3. RHP Greg Burke: Good for Burke, who has now given the Mets 2 1/3 scoreless innings since returning from Triple-A Las Vegas. Another inning or two, and this may take the form of real progress for the submariner.

Three Down:1. RHP Dillon Gee: After giving up another six runs in four innings, Gee sounded like a pitcher who was completely out of answers. He’ll need to find some before his next start, or risk losing his grip on a rotation spot.

2. LHP Robert Carson: Like Gee, Carson has displayed an utter inability to get batters out with any sort of consistency. There’s certainly talent here, but Carson needs to figure out how to tap it if he wants to stay at this level.

3. 1B Ike Davis: Another forgettable day for Davis, who finished 0-for-4 at the plate and committed a (at the time) critical throwing error to spark a first-inning Cardinals rally. Considering how badly he has slumped offensively, Davis needs to be perfect on defense.

Three Up:1. RHP Jeremy Hefner: Yet again, Hefner gave the Mets a chance to win, which is all they can ask out of their fifth starter. The Cardinals had Hefner on the ropes early, but he made the necessarily adjustments to provide six quality innings.

2. 2B Daniel Murphy: This guy is so streaky that even his streaks have streaks. Murphy is 4-for-5 since emerging from last week’s massive funk; who knows how far the second baseman will take this?

3. RHP Greg Burke: Somebody had to put out the fire at Busch Stadium. It happened to be Burke. We’ll see if this is an isolated outing, or an example of real long-term growth from the adjustments he made at Las Vegas.

Three Down:1. OF Rick Ankiel: Catching Ty Wigginton’s double would not have been easy, but Ankiel took a somewhat circuitous route to the ball. Throw in his two strikeouts in three at-bats, and this was hardly the Mets debut that he wanted.

2. RHP Scott Atchison: As if allowing hard-hit balls to all three batters he faced was not enough, Atchison revealed afterward that he couldn’t feel his fingers thanks to a torn elbow ligament. Never a good sign.

3. LHP Scott Rice: The fact that Rice took his third loss was at least partially Ankiel’s fault. But Rice also committed a critical blunder, failing to cover home on the ball that kicked off his foot.

Probably not what the Mets envisioned tonight. Okay, definitely not what the Mets envisioned.

Three Up:1. 2B Daniel Murphy: Murphy just continues to drive the ball with authority, this time rapping out a single and a double in four trips to the plate. He had two of the Mets’ eight hits against Lee.

2. C John Buck: Another night, another opposite-field homer for the National League’s RBI leader. Ho-hum.

3. RHP LaTroy Hawkins: It may have been a low-leverage situation, but Hawkins’ 10-pitch seventh against Michael Young, Domonic Brown and John Mayberry was impressive. Overall lately, the Mets’ bullpen has been sharp.

Three Down:1. RHP Dillon Gee: Mets starters entered tonight’s game with a 1.87 ERA. They exited the stadium with a 3.11 ERA. Enough said.

2. RHP Greg Burke: Here’s something to keep an eye on: when Burke puts runners on base, he has a hard time holding them there. Burke’s submarine delivery is slow to the plate, as Chase Utley demonstrated by stealing second and scoring against him in the fourth. That could loom large in future high-leverage situations.

3. 2B Justin Turner: Given a rare start at first base, Turner grounded into a double play in his first at-bat, finished 1-for-4 with a single and committed a throwing error on defense. Spot starting isn’t easy, but the Mets were hoping for more.

When Marlon Byrd stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Sunday, do you think he knew he was at risk of losing a point in this space for the first time this season? I do too.

Three Up:1. OF Marlon Byrd: Can’t lie to you: Byrd was on the Three Down list before coming up with a game-winning two-run single in the ninth. Was his soft ground ball more a product of opportunity than anything else? Sure. But here at Three Up, Three Down, we reward walk-off hits 100 percent of the time.

2. RHP Greg Burke: The only reason the Mets stayed close all afternoon is because Burke wriggled out of Laffey’s jam in the fifth inning, giving the Mets 1 2/3 key innings of relief. For the first time this season, he aimed for strikeouts instead of ground balls, finding some success in the process.

3. SS Ruben Tejada: Not only did Tejada’s error streak end, but he also reached base twice and stole a critical base with one out in the seventh. Most importantly, he made an aggressive (and fortuitous) dash on the base paths, going first to third on Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ one-out single in the ninth. That was huge.

Three Down:1. LHP Aaron Laffey: Ten hits in 4 1/3 innings ain’t going to cut it. Laffey’s rope in the rotation can’t be very long, which is bad news for the Mets; with Shaun Marcum out indefinitely, they don’t really have a good in-house alternative.

2. OF Lucas Duda: Two strikeouts and an 0-for-4 were bad enough, but Duda also took an, um, questionable route to Rob Brantly’s double in the seventh. That one did not come back to bite the Mets, but it reminded them that Duda is hardly a natural out there.

3. OF Collin Cowgill: Known primarily for his work against lefty pitching, Cowgill drew a tough assignment leading off against hard-throwing Marlins rookie Jose Fernandez, an electric right-hander. But, again, life ain’t fair.

That one got away from them quickly. Here are three reasons why, and three reasons why not:

Three Up:1. RHP Jeremy Hefner: Once again, the Mets received a strong outing from their starting pitcher, leaning on Hefner for six innings of one-run ball. This loss was hardly Hef’s fault.

2. 2B Daniel Murphy: His three-run homer in the seventh proved that yes, as a matter of fact, the Mets did still have an offensive pulse. Murphy later grounded out with the tying runs on base, but we can’t hold that against him because he put the Mets in that position in the first place. Murphy saved another run with a nice defensive play in the ninth.

3. OF Jordany Valdespin: He was picked off first base once, nearly doubled off the bag twice, and took a horrific route to Giancarlo Stanton’s two-base hit in the ninth. But Valdespin did rap out two hits, steal a bag, reach base four times and draw an eight-pitch walk to set up Murphy’s homer. This is the least we can do for Valdespin, who was also plunked by the baseball twice (ouch).

Three Down:1. SS Ruben Tejada: Tejada’s fielding error in the seventh inning opened the floodgates for the Marlins, who scored five runs in the inning. It was Tejada’s third error in four games. Somewhere, John Dewan shed a tear.

2. RHP Greg Burke: Of course, Tejada’s error would have been a footnote had Burke recovered to limit the damage. He didn’t, walking the next batter and allowing four runs (one earned) in 0.1 innings.

1B Ike Davis: Here we go again? Davis grounded into a double play (again), struck out (again) and finished 0-for-4 (again). He was robbed of a hit in the fifth inning, but stats are stats: he’s now 1-for-16 on the season.

Another game with lots of positives tonight for the Mets. But alas, in this space, only three players can be up and three must be down:

Three Up:1. RHP Matt Harvey: He would be Three Up all by himself if it were not against the rules. But we’re a stickler for rules here, so Harvey goes +1 with a dominant seven-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout performance.

2. OF Lucas Duda: Coming into the game, Duda had four home runs in 215 career at-bats against left-handers. He made that five in 215 with his two-run shot off Clayton Richard, adding a double and a walk later in the game.

3. 1B Ike Davis: The more impressive offensive stat line belonged to John Buck, but Davis sorely needed to snap his 0-for-the-season in Game 2. He did so with an absolute bomb, scraping the Shea Bridge with his two-run shot in the fifth.

Three Down:1. SS Ruben Tejada: He struck out twice and hit two lazy flys in four hitless at-bats, then committed a throwing error in the ninth for good measure. Not good for a guy who spent his spring concentrating on hitting line drives and ground balls.

2. RHP Greg Burke: Burke relieved Harvey and gave up hits to the first two batters he saw — that’s twice as many as Harvey allowed all night, for those keeping track. To be fair, Burke did recover after that, generating consecutive ground balls to limit the damage to one run.

3. RHP LaTroy Hawkins: Same deal. Two straight hits to start the ninth, but recovered until Tejada’s error led to two more unearned runs. Say this about Burke and Hawkins: at least they didn’t walk anyone.

Analysis: Lutz makes the team only if Wright or Murphy is not healed from injury. Nieuwenhuis has little shot unless one of the other five outfielders are injured, or perhaps if the Mets DL Murphy and use Valdespin at second base. Familia is still a legitimate consideration to make the team over Burke. Other than that, the roster appears set.

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